Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My fiance and I bought a lavender albino king from the Hamburg show in Dec 2011. She is still a baby, less than a foot long, but is one of the nastiest snakes we've ever had. At first she was a little jumpy like most of the real young snakes are so we thought nothing of it. But it has gotten to the point where she strikes at the air when we try to get near her, and shakes her tail like she thinks she's a rattlesnake. We're not sure if this is becuause of the fact that she's so young or if it's the type of king she is, but any help to why she's acting like this would be greatly appreciated. If she doesn't get any nicer we may have to rehome her. We really don't want to own a snake we can't even touch. Thank you.

What you are describing is pretty common for young kings/milks/corns. Luckily most will grow out of it if you handle them a little and give them the right conditions. Make sure your temps are correct, provide appropriate hides, and make sure it's well fed. By the way, if the pic is of the snake in question it looks like a corn to me.........

Josh

Have you posted the right pic?

Looks like you got an amel corn??????????

I too see that is a corn snake, but I also notice another snakes head below the rock. Is that the "king" under the rock? Or is the corn snake the king? Anyway, like others said, the snake will grow out of it with proper care and handling. You can wear some light gloves to get the snake out of the cage if you are worried about the biting, and then once the snake is out use bare hands.

Joe

Sorry, don't know how that pic got posted with it lol. Those are 2 of our other snakes, yellow rat and reverse okeetee corn. I'll try to add one of her(not sure if it will work)

But thanks for the help and suggestions. We have the bedding deep enough for her to make tunnels and have a heat light on her for 12 hours a day. Her tank is also in an area where a draft or anything can't get to her. We also feed her every week or 2, just cause she's young and growing. Any other suggestions?

Yep. I have a few. Ditch the heat lamp and get an under the tank heater with a thermostat. Make sure he has a hot spot of 85 or so on the hot end of the cage and as cool as ambient will allow on the cool side. Place the water on the cool side. Make sure he has a moist hide in the middle or on the cool side. Feed him every three or four days an appropriate sized meal. The deep bedding is good.

Joe

>>Yep. I have a few. Ditch the heat lamp and get an under the tank heater with a thermostat. Make sure he has a hot spot of 85 or so on the hot end of the cage and as cool as ambient will allow on the cool side. Place the water on the cool side. Make sure he has a moist hide in the middle or on the cool side. Feed him every three or four days an appropriate sized meal. The deep bedding is good.
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>>Joe

I agree! Feed it more often and frequent handling should calm it down. It may be feeding mode, and not mean at all. It's hard to tellthe difference sometimes. Try picking it up after it's full, just to see if it still tries to bite? I have some Florida Kings that will attack anything that moves when they are hungry. Like Joe said feed it more frequently.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
Jorge Sierra

My Site > www.Sierrasnakes.com

Nice looking king! I wouldn't worry too much about it striking, that's common for the little guys to be like that at first. Even in nature the babies are more likely to strike, while adults prefer to flee most of the time. My lavender does the same thing. Starts striking when I walk by its cage.

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>>Nice looking king! I wouldn't worry too much about it striking, that's common for the little guys to be like that at first. Even in nature the babies are more likely to strike, while adults prefer to flee most of the time. My lavender does the same thing. Starts striking when I walk by its cage.

Ross...
Have you noticed that the amels and lavendars are more likely to be strikers like that than the normals?
I have........
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

I always thought Coastal Cal kings tend to be more musky and strikey than desert Cal kings, and it seems amels of coastals tend to hold onto that behavior into adulthood more often. Of my adults I had, the ones that were sure to musk even at 10 yrs old or more were white/yellow amels. I had some normal PV coastals that were terrors as babies but calm by 4-5 yrs old.

Would like to hear from those folks that deal with hundreds of Cal kings though. I dealt with dozens back in the day but not hundreds.

That's very interesting. I've never had amel or lavender adults.
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I couldn't say because I've only had one amel that was a juvenile that I never raised to adult, and this lavender. The amel wasn't that bad, and the lavender doesn't strike every single time, just about half the time unless he's in his hide of course.
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I don't mean to burst your bubble. But your photo is of an amel corn snake, not a king.

Funny, I think I remember a thread about albinos being more aggressive. I wonder if their eyesight is not as good and they tend to strike more often due to the same.

Joe